Guild Wars 2

Been working on this for a while along with the help of a few notable mesmers in the community. Let me know your thoughts.
First I’ll talk about the mirage mirror redesign which all the info is in the links I provided below.

http://imgur.com/a/PbKOl

So essentially I made a specific shatter ability only for shattering mirage mirrors, that gives you an effect. And I tweaked the radius to be on point with the rest of the shatter abilities, along with tweaking the damage of mirage mirror shatter. It also should be noted that whenever you get a mirage mirror, it’s instant. No more running over them to pick them up.

Traitlines

Mirage—-

Minor Adept 1 – “Self-Deception” – Generate a clone whenever YOU successfully hit with a ambush ability.

Minor Adept 3 – “Riddle of Sand” – Your deception skills are reduced by 1 second every time you use mirage cloak.

Major Master 1 – “Shards of Glass” – When you shatter with 2 or more illusions, you gain a mirage charge.

Major Grandmaster 1 – “Infinite horizon” This ability now effects phantasms, phantasms now fire a portion of their attack when mirage cloak is activated.

—Ambush Abilities—

Staff – Cast time reduced by half, speed up projectile pathing

Scepter – You can now cast the ambush attack while moving, speed up projectile pathing.

Greatsword – Leap at your foe, granting might for each target struck
Damage: 400
Number of Targets: 5
Combo Finisher: Leap
Range: 450
Might duration 10 seconds

Heal Skill—-

False Oasis: You gain a mirage charge at the final pulse.
Conditions cleared per pulse: 1

Utility—-

Sand Through Glass: Evade backward and gain a mirage charge.

Crystal Sands : Destroy your illusions, granting 1 mirage charge for each illusion destroyed.
- Activation time 1/4 second.
- Cooldown 35 seconds.

Elite—-

Jaunt: Now has 600 range.

Domination —-

Imagined Burden – Your Greatsword skills are improved
-Spacial Surge – Number of targets increased from 3 to 4
-Mirror Blade – Gives 4 stacks of might instead of 3 –
-Mind Stab – Now removes 2 boons from foes instead of 1, and transfers one random condition from you to your foe.
-Phantasmal Beserker – Number of impacts increased from 4 to 5
-illusionary wave – knockback increased from 450 to 600

Power Block : Interrupts deal damage and inflict weakness, Enemy skills
that you interrupt have an increased cooldown. (If you interrupt a skill
that has no recharge, inflict slow for 3 seconds.)
Damage 399

Inspiration—-

Wardens Feedback: is now in the place of Temporal Enchanter

Wardens Feedback: Your focus skills have been improved. Gain access to the following
-Focus recharge reduced by 20%
- Temporal Curtain: Now also grants super speed to yourself and allies for 3 seconds upon first entering. Reflects projectiles
- Into The Void: Now cripples foes upon activation. Damages all foes based off how many are enemies pulled.

Max number of of foes crippled: 5
Cripple duration: 3 seconds
Void Damage 1 Enemy : 210
Void Damage 2 Enemies : 231
Void Damage 3 Enemies: 252
Void Damage 4 Enemies: 273
Void Damage 5 Enemies: 294

Chaos—-

Mirror Of Anguish: The duration of chaos armor is now 6 seconds instead of five. Chaos armor now converts 1 random condition into a boon every three seconds.

—-Weapon Changes—-

Off hand Sword:

illusionary reposte – Block incoming attacks for a short duration, if you successfully block an attack gain an illusion & access to counter blade
Block Duration 1.5 seconds

Counter Blade: Swap places with the illusion created by illusionary riposte and stab your sword in the ground, knocking enemies down within the radius. "the animation will be similar to greatsword 3. You will only have a 5 second window to swap with your illusion after a successful block
Damage : 710
Radius: 240
Max targets knocked down: 3
Knockdown time: 1.5 seconds
Range: 600
Cast time : ¾ second. You can cast this while moving

Off Hand Focus—-

Phantasmal Warden – Phantasmal Warden now chases its target while attacking until destroyed or shattered.

Thank you for reading/watching
Countless

Having every ambush attack generate a clone might be too strong for an adept. I suggested having it replacing riddle of sand. Your ambush attack generate a clone but only refreshes after you shatter.

Your suggestion on deception trait is what devs tried to move away from i.e. conditional CD reduction. They just changed back staff and torch CD reduction trait. So my suggestion would be having your next ambush attack apply 2 stacks of confusion after using deception skill.

I like suggestions on improving other mesmer off-hand weapons.

I also like having mirage mirror spawning at more accessible locations.

I think elusive mind is strong enough and doesn not need to be buffed.

Exciton.8942:

Having every ambush attack generate a clone might be too strong for an adept. I suggested having it replacing riddle of sand. Your ambush attack generate a clone but only refreshes after you shatter.

Your suggestion on deception trait is what devs tried to move away from i.e. conditional CD reduction. They just changed back staff and torch CD reduction trait. So my suggestion would be having your next ambush attack apply 2 stacks of confusion after using deception skill.

I like suggestions on improving other mesmer off-hand weapons.

I also like having mirage mirror spawning at more accessible locations.

I think elusive mind is strong enough and doesn not need to be buffed.

Adept to grandmaster, it doesn’t really matter tier they’re in. The only thing that matters is two things

- What the trait is competing with in the same tier
- And whether or not the other choices has synergy in the same tree with the one you picked.

The change myself and zeromis suggested isn’t even as strong as deceptive evasion, because you need to dodge to trigger mirage cloak, ambush, and connect with it as compared to simply dodging, So I don’t really see a problem.

When it comes to elusive mind that’s not really your call, it honestly could be a design flaw or a bug, so we won’t know that till we get confirmation. And riddle of sand would be a great trait to compete with deceptive ambush, you have to choose between clone production or reduced cooldown on deception skills.

Countless

Trigr.6481:

Exciton.8942:

Having every ambush attack generate a clone might be too strong for an adept. I suggested having it replacing riddle of sand. Your ambush attack generate a clone but only refreshes after you shatter.

Your suggestion on deception trait is what devs tried to move away from i.e. conditional CD reduction. They just changed back staff and torch CD reduction trait. So my suggestion would be having your next ambush attack apply 2 stacks of confusion after using deception skill.

I like suggestions on improving other mesmer off-hand weapons.

I also like having mirage mirror spawning at more accessible locations.

I think elusive mind is strong enough and doesn not need to be buffed.

Adept to grandmaster, it doesn’t really matter tier they’re in. The only thing that matters is two things

- What the trait is competing with in the same tier
- And whether or not the other choices has synergy in the same tree with the one you picked.

The change myself and zeromis suggested isn’t even as strong as deceptive evasion, because you need to dodge to trigger mirage cloak, ambush, and connect with it as compared to simply dodging, So I don’t really see a problem.

When it comes to elusive mind that’s not really your call, it honestly could be a design flaw or a bug, so we won’t know that till we get confirmation. And riddle of sand would be a great trait to compete with deceptive ambush, you have to choose between clone production or reduced cooldown on deception skills.

Countless

Not your call either but anyone with an ounce of sense knows stunbreak on dodge is insanely strong. Duelling with meat and orian truffle food and energy sigil mean in WvW you’re essentially immune to hard CC as you naturally regain a dodge every 5.5s and regain a full dodge ever weapon swap.

Even in PvP it would be either redundant because of how many stunbreaks/teleports a mesmer has or just as broken.

That’s without mentioning the other part of cleansing a condition on dodge. Elusive mind does not need to be buffed at all.

What riddle of sand needs to do is apply the confusion with ambush without the stupid need to shatter to refresh that effect.

It’s already limited by our amount of dodges.

Imagine if thief’s bounding dodge or any other dodge traits only reactivated after they used up 10 initiative. It’s so incredibly dumb.

PvE mirages don’t have a single good adept trait. In fact, PvE mirages don’t have good traits at all. They’re all PvP.

apharma.3741:

Trigr.6481:

Exciton.8942:

Having every ambush attack generate a clone might be too strong for an adept. I suggested having it replacing riddle of sand. Your ambush attack generate a clone but only refreshes after you shatter.

Your suggestion on deception trait is what devs tried to move away from i.e. conditional CD reduction. They just changed back staff and torch CD reduction trait. So my suggestion would be having your next ambush attack apply 2 stacks of confusion after using deception skill.

I like suggestions on improving other mesmer off-hand weapons.

I also like having mirage mirror spawning at more accessible locations.

I think elusive mind is strong enough and doesn not need to be buffed.

Adept to grandmaster, it doesn’t really matter tier they’re in. The only thing that matters is two things

- What the trait is competing with in the same tier
- And whether or not the other choices has synergy in the same tree with the one you picked.

The change myself and zeromis suggested isn’t even as strong as deceptive evasion, because you need to dodge to trigger mirage cloak, ambush, and connect with it as compared to simply dodging, So I don’t really see a problem.

When it comes to elusive mind that’s not really your call, it honestly could be a design flaw or a bug, so we won’t know that till we get confirmation. And riddle of sand would be a great trait to compete with deceptive ambush, you have to choose between clone production or reduced cooldown on deception skills.

Countless

Not your call either but anyone with an ounce of sense knows stunbreak on dodge is insanely strong.

Anyone with a ounce of sense knows that the mirrors are mirage cloak, and since elusive mind doesn’t clear the condi or break stun that means it’s a bug. But if you want to make an argument against the idea of them not fixing bugs in the game then feel free to make a fool of yourself.

Trigr.6481:

apharma.3741:

Trigr.6481:

Exciton.8942:

Having every ambush attack generate a clone might be too strong for an adept. I suggested having it replacing riddle of sand. Your ambush attack generate a clone but only refreshes after you shatter.

Your suggestion on deception trait is what devs tried to move away from i.e. conditional CD reduction. They just changed back staff and torch CD reduction trait. So my suggestion would be having your next ambush attack apply 2 stacks of confusion after using deception skill.

I like suggestions on improving other mesmer off-hand weapons.

I also like having mirage mirror spawning at more accessible locations.

I think elusive mind is strong enough and doesn not need to be buffed.

Adept to grandmaster, it doesn’t really matter tier they’re in. The only thing that matters is two things

- What the trait is competing with in the same tier
- And whether or not the other choices has synergy in the same tree with the one you picked.

The change myself and zeromis suggested isn’t even as strong as deceptive evasion, because you need to dodge to trigger mirage cloak, ambush, and connect with it as compared to simply dodging, So I don’t really see a problem.

When it comes to elusive mind that’s not really your call, it honestly could be a design flaw or a bug, so we won’t know that till we get confirmation. And riddle of sand would be a great trait to compete with deceptive ambush, you have to choose between clone production or reduced cooldown on deception skills.

Countless

Not your call either but anyone with an ounce of sense knows stunbreak on dodge is insanely strong.

Anyone with a ounce of sense knows that the mirrors are mirage cloak, and since elusive mind doesn’t clear the condi or break stun that means it’s a bug. But if you want to make an argument against the idea of them not fixing bugs in the game then feel free to make a fool of yourself.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Elusive_Mind

I’m sorry, what were you saying about being a fool?

If it isn’t stun breaking or clearing a condition then it’s bugged but going off how it’s intended to work, stunbreak and cleanse on dodge is insanely strong.

Whether or not you agree with the implementation, I do think it was intended this way and it is how I read it. The Mirage Cloak trait causes your dodge key to lose its normal function, it now grants the Mirage Cloak status effect. Mirage Mirrors also grant the Mirage Cloak status effect. Elusive Mind insinuates activation of the trait based on the dodge key, not based on gaining the Mirage Cloak status nor evading attacks.

Allarius.5670:

Whether or not you agree with the implementation, I do think it was intended this way and it is how I read it. The Mirage Cloak trait causes your dodge key to lose its normal function, it now grants the Mirage Cloak status effect. Mirage Mirrors also grant the Mirage Cloak status effect. Elusive Mind insinuates activation of the trait based on the dodge key, not based on gaining the Mirage Cloak status nor evading attacks.

I disagree, I still feel it’s a bug. If it’s mirage cloak it’s linked to dodge rolling, period. Therefore regardless of where it came from it should proc elusive mind.

Allarius.5670:

Whether or not you agree with the implementation, I do think it was intended this way and it is how I read it. The Mirage Cloak trait causes your dodge key to lose its normal function, it now grants the Mirage Cloak status effect. Mirage Mirrors also grant the Mirage Cloak status effect. Elusive Mind insinuates activation of the trait based on the dodge key, not based on gaining the Mirage Cloak status nor evading attacks.

What this guy said.

Trigr.6481:

Allarius.5670:

Whether or not you agree with the implementation, I do think it was intended this way and it is how I read it. The Mirage Cloak trait causes your dodge key to lose its normal function, it now grants the Mirage Cloak status effect. Mirage Mirrors also grant the Mirage Cloak status effect. Elusive Mind insinuates activation of the trait based on the dodge key, not based on gaining the Mirage Cloak status nor evading attacks.

I disagree, I still feel it’s a bug. If it’s mirage cloak it’s linked to dodge rolling, period. Therefore regardless of where it came from it should proc elusive mind.

No, they very clearly state on dodge, not on ambush attack, not on mirage cloak, not on evade but on dodge. That means on press of the dodge key.

If you look at the wording on the minor adept it states you gain mirage cloak instead of dodge rolling so any on dodge skills (present or future) don’t necessarily translate over to when you gain mirage cloak. It’s already a strong trait that quite frankly shouldn’t be in the game at all like stab on dodge was for revs. It doesn’t need to also be triggered by getting mirage cloak.

apharma.3741:

Trigr.6481:

Allarius.5670:

Whether or not you agree with the implementation, I do think it was intended this way and it is how I read it. The Mirage Cloak trait causes your dodge key to lose its normal function, it now grants the Mirage Cloak status effect. Mirage Mirrors also grant the Mirage Cloak status effect. Elusive Mind insinuates activation of the trait based on the dodge key, not based on gaining the Mirage Cloak status nor evading attacks.

I disagree, I still feel it’s a bug. If it’s mirage cloak it’s linked to dodge rolling, period. Therefore regardless of where it came from it should proc elusive mind.

No, they very clearly state on dodge, not on ambush attack, not on mirage cloak, not on evade but on dodge. That means on press of the dodge key.

If you look at the wording on the minor adept it states you gain mirage cloak instead of dodge rolling so any on dodge skills (present or future) don’t necessarily translate over to when you gain mirage cloak. It’s already a strong trait that quite frankly shouldn’t be in the game at all like stab on dodge was for revs. It doesn’t need to also be triggered by getting mirage cloak.

There’s no point in arguing with you any further. We’re just going to have to agree to disagree. Time will tell on whether it’s a bug or not.

While I think Elusive Mind should clear conditions and break stun on Mirage Cloak activation, the trait specifically states dodging, NOT Mirage Cloak activation, for anybody who’s confused on the matter.

Stun break on dodge is bad for the game. Especially on the best 100-0 class in the game.

Now I’m willing to wait to see how PoF pans out before changing things tbh. I just don’t see how you can balance a trait like that in this game especially since it has zero CD.

Overall I like these changes. I think it’s clear that the community wants something fresh and good to use, not something relying on timely gimmicks and niche traits that’ll see no good use (such as Lost Time from Chrono).

I think the stunbreak is ridiculous without an ICD.

But tbh I’d rather see Elusive Mind remove all movement impairing conditions on dodge (cripple/chill/immob), and one single additional condition. Then stick a cooldown on the stunbreak (at least 10 seconds if not more).

Anyway I like some of your changes in the OP, particularly things like Warden’s Feedback – I’d actually play with focus again seriously rather than using it to pull the occasional person off a wall in wvw.

Azukas.1426:

Stun break on dodge is bad for the game. Especially on the best 100-0 class in the game.

Thief has a stun break on dodge?

Levetty.1279:

Azukas.1426:

Stun break on dodge is bad for the game. Especially on the best 100-0 class in the game.

Thief has a stun break on dodge?

Mesmer Burst > Thief Burst

Azukas.1426:

Levetty.1279:

Azukas.1426:

Stun break on dodge is bad for the game. Especially on the best 100-0 class in the game.

Thief has a stun break on dodge?

Mesmer Burst > Thief Burst

Mesmer burst also has significantly longer cd and mesmer has no sustained damage whatsoever in case a burst fails or is partially blocked, which allows targets to fully recover where a thief would just finish off with autos.

Azukas.1426:

Levetty.1279:

Azukas.1426:

Stun break on dodge is bad for the game. Especially on the best 100-0 class in the game.

Thief has a stun break on dodge?

Mesmer Burst > Thief Burst

I’m confused, first you say thief has a stun break on dodge, now you are saying it doesn’t.

wb Sticker.

Anyway one other thing I really like is the proposed change to offhand sword 4. That rework is… well it’s kitten awesome and I might use it more often than Torch if it functioned as in the OP.

We do need an overhaul for our offhand weapons – especially evident with Mirage because Shield has eclipses these issues by being so good (and Torch has covered the other issues – although iMage still could do with a coldown reduction because 30s untraited is stupid).

Focus definitely needs love, especially considering what Wardens’ Feedback currently competes with – nobody in their right mind would choose that over RI. This trait has to be moved and Focus could do with your proposed buffs ro bring new life to the weapon. It’s such a beautiful and skillful weapon to use but it’s so weak in the current state of the game.

I’m curious as to Pistol – would you change anything with that?

I also asked for a port back to the shard location. I feel like this would be a great change. And maybe buffing the heal or the condi cleanse abit more.

Curunen.8729:

wb Sticker.

Anyway one other thing I really like is the proposed change to offhand sword 4. That rework is… well it’s kitten awesome and I might use it more often than Torch if it functioned as in the OP.

We do need an overhaul for our offhand weapons – especially evident with Mirage because Shield has eclipses these issues by being so good (and Torch has covered the other issues – although iMage still could do with a coldown reduction because 30s untraited is stupid).

Focus definitely needs love, especially considering what Wardens’ Feedback currently competes with – nobody in their right mind would choose that over RI. This trait has to be moved and Focus could do with your proposed buffs ro bring new life to the weapon. It’s such a beautiful and skillful weapon to use but it’s so weak in the current state of the game.

I’m curious as to Pistol – would you change anything with that?

These are the things I got struck the most with.

Been off for a while and came back to see the new elite, but I was not too impressed.

However, it’s unbelievable how can the comunity come up with such good ideas. I hope devs will have a look at this. If they only implemented the off hand sword and focus changes, that would almost give me a reason to buy the exp pack because as it stands Mirage is not worth the money

StickerHappy.8052:

Trigr.6481:

The video is long, treat it as a podcast and it should be enjoyable for you. Myself and Zeromis discussed numerous changes to mirage traits, as well as other trait lines and weapon improvements including the following. I hope you enjoy and please leave your feedback regarding our discussion which can be found in the link below. And If you’re short on time I included everything we discussed in the video, as well as a few things we forgot to mention that are included below in this post.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rmcm-p1HK1A

Weapon Changes

Off hand Sword:

illusionary reposte – Block incoming attacks for a short duration, if you successfully block an attack gain an illusion & access to counter blade

Block Duration 1.5 seconds

Counter Blade: Swap places with the illusion created by illusionary riposte and stab your sword in the ground, knocking enemies down within the radius. "the animation will be similar to greatsword 3. You will only have a 5 second window to swap with your illusion after a successful block

Damage : 710
Radius: 240
Max targets knocked down: 3
Knockdown time: 1.5 seconds
Range: 600
Cast time : ¾ second. You can cast this while moving

Off Hand Focus:

Phantasmal Warden – Phantasmal Warden now chases its target while attacking until destroyed or shattered.

Traitlines

---

Mirage—-

Minor Adept 1 – “Self-Deception” Changed to “Decepting Ambush” – Generate a clone whenever YOU successfully hit with a ambush ability.

Minor Adept 3 – “Riddle of Sand” Changed to “Deception Training” – Your deception skills are reduced by 1 second every time you use mirage cloak.

Major Master 1 – “Shards of Glass” – When you shatter with 2 or more illusions, spawn a mirage mirror at your location.

Major Grandmaster 1 – “Infinite horizon” This ability now effects phantasms, phantasms now fire a portion of their attack when mirage cloak is activated.

Major Grandmaster 2 – “Elusive Mind” This trait is now effected by mirage mirrors

—Ambush Abilities—

Staff – Cast time reduced by half, speed up projectile pathing

Scepter – You can now cast the ambush attack while moving, speed up projectile pathing.

Greatsword – Leap at your foe, granting might for each target struck
Damage: 400
Number of Targets: 5
Combo Finisher: Leap
Range: 450
Might duration 10 seconds

---

Domination —-

Imagined Burden – Your Greatsword skills are improved
-Spacial Surge – Number of targets increased from 3 to 4
-Mirror Blade – Gives 4 stacks of might instead of 3 –
-Mind Stab – Now removes 2 boons from foes instead of 1, and transfers one random condition from you to your foe.
-Phantasmal Beserker – Number of impacts increased from 4 to 5
-illusionary wave – knockback increased from 450 to 600

Power Block : Interrupts deal damage and inflict weakness, Enemy skills
that you interrupt have an increased cooldown. (If you interrupt a skill
that has no recharge, inflict slow for 3 seconds.)
Damage 399

---

Inspiration—-

Wardens Feedback: is now in the place of Temporal Enchanter

Wardens Feedback: Your focus skills have been improved. Gain access to the following

-Focus recharge reduced by 20%

- Temporal Curtain: Now also grants super speed to yourself and allies for 3 seconds upon first entering. Reflects projectiles

- Into The Void: Now cripples foes upon activation. Damages all foes based off how many are enemies pulled.

Max number of of foes crippled: 5
Cripple duration: 3 seconds
Void Damage 1 Enemy : 210
Void Damage 2 Enemies : 231
Void Damage 3 Enemies: 252
Void Damage 4 Enemies: 273
Void Damage 5 Enemies: 294

---

Chaos—-

Mirror Of Anguish: When disabled by stun, daze, knockback, pull, knockdown, sink, float, fear, taunt, or launch, your next attack will mimic whatever control effect you were effected by to the enemy. “This will be a on screen proc with a duration”

Mirror Of Anguish Activation duration – 10 seconds

---

Heal Skill—-

False Oasis: Once the mirage mirror activates, you will get a shadowstep ability in place of your heal that ports you back to the mirror until the mirror shatters.

Shadowstep duration – 4 seconds
Range – 900

Thank you

Countless

Great post man.

Although 1 BIG FLAW

…..
….
…
..
.

Never post anything in the mesmer forums especially if it’s centered around PvP / WvW mechanics. There are only a few here that would understand. The rest would just argue with you all day/night long. Majority here don’t even know who frostball is..

No, the big flaw is he’s essentially power creeping the core lines and wanting to make some already absurdly strong traits in mirage much stronger. I mean slow on interrupt if a skill has no CD? Geee whizz I wonder which class that’s targeted at!? I could poke at the rest of the post in specifics but he’s just trying to do the same thing with phantasms as everyone else, bandaid force them to work instead of saying “This kitten don’t work” and throwing it out.

Or do you honestly think elusive mind should stunbreak and cleanse a condition every time you gain mirage cloak?

Levetty.1279:

Azukas.1426:

Levetty.1279:

Azukas.1426:

Stun break on dodge is bad for the game. Especially on the best 100-0 class in the game.

Thief has a stun break on dodge?

Mesmer Burst > Thief Burst

I’m confused, first you say thief has a stun break on dodge, now you are saying it doesn’t.

You know you should be more into overall game balance.

It’s the best way tbh

Zenith.7301:

Azukas.1426:

Levetty.1279:

Azukas.1426:

Stun break on dodge is bad for the game. Especially on the best 100-0 class in the game.

Thief has a stun break on dodge?

Mesmer Burst > Thief Burst

Mesmer burst also has significantly longer cd and mesmer has no sustained damage whatsoever in case a burst fails or is partially blocked, which allows targets to fully recover where a thief would just finish off with autos.

Mind wrack is on a significantly less CD than steal. Let’s be honest here. Also Basi Venom is a CD of 45 seconds.

Yes theif AA’s do more damage than ours. Yes this is true, but thief can’t 100-0 someone on a burst anymore. Also our overall sustain trumps thief sustain in fights. We have many more ways to mitigate damage and win fights, where as; the thief is well known for having zero sustain.

Everyone needs to take a step back and look at the entire picture w/out class bias.

@StickerHappy.8052 You have to remember that I’ve been out of the game for a while, and sure I have seem him stream a few times for a collective amount of 20 seconds, but I don’t really see the correlation of what he has to do with this thread. But you’re probably right about the location, ill have to post this in the pvp forum.

@Allarius.5670 I actually spoke to a dev about elusive mind and mirage mirrors, and you were right, so I’m sorry. That being said something needs to change with the mechanic of mirrors before the expansion hits that gives some type of synergy with the rest of the mirage tree. I’ll try to come up with some ideas and edit my post when I do, and see what everyone thinks.

@Curunen.8729 It’s not that I don’t want to change anything with pistol, It’s one of my favorite off hands, it’s just a matter of what I would change. I just haven’t come up with anything good enough that’s balanced worth posting.

Countless

No sweat, Countless. I was just sharing how I saw it as written. I am super duper jealous you had the opportunity to pick a developer’s brain about it.

Personally, I thought Mirage Mirrors felt a little out of place too, as though an after thought or not fully integrated; but, the more Mirage video montages I see the more I think there is potential. I just wasn’t fully realising or accessing the spec and the alternative way of playing it allows.

Consider that Mirage is meant to be Thief through the eyes of the Mesmer, and Thief is known for hyper aggressive melee bursts with periods of avoidance. Taking the measure of the full set of Deception skills, this is exactly the playstyle Mirage allows for. Granted, Mesmer already plays like this to a degree, so surely the intent was to provide additional and alternative ways to do it.

The deception skills allow you ways to get in and out of combat, maneuver spatially within combat, and generally avoid damage on top of all the ways core Mesmer already can. Mirage Mirrors help enable that in the skirmishing area, providing additional evasion to avoid retaliation while continuing to harass or escape. The skills do allow for control over the placement of mirrors, but require a playstyle shift to realise their potential. You don’t set them up for later use with a 4 sec lifetime, you aim to capitalise on them almost immediately. Consider Jaunt and its very limited range: it was likely intended as a positionally evasive damage avoidance utility and a Mirror enabler all while engaged in combat, not the full escape tool or raw mobility tool a lot of us tried to use it for or initially thought it would be.

Where the Chronomancer was Utility Mesmer +, the Mirage looks like it wants to be Damage Mesmer +. It lacks the more traditional staying power and utility that Chronomancer can provide, but does have the potential for higher and more frequent bursts for Condi Mesmer and a more evasive tool set for Power Mesmer.

I think Mirage does need adjustment and tweaks, and am totally open to the possibility that I am completely and utterly wrong. I certainly don’t think anyone else’s observations, ideas, and interpretations are incorrect; I am limited by seeing through my own perspective and experiences. It is certainly valid to disagree with the concept and design execution as well if it doesn’t meet what someone feels are the needs and desires of their individual playstyle, though we are all at the mercy of the developers in the end. It will be interesting to see how things develop.

Azukas.1426:

Zenith.7301:

Azukas.1426:

Levetty.1279:

Azukas.1426:

Stun break on dodge is bad for the game. Especially on the best 100-0 class in the game.

Thief has a stun break on dodge?

Mesmer Burst > Thief Burst

Mesmer burst also has significantly longer cd and mesmer has no sustained damage whatsoever in case a burst fails or is partially blocked, which allows targets to fully recover where a thief would just finish off with autos.

Mind wrack is on a significantly less CD than steal. Let’s be honest here. Also Basi Venom is a CD of 45 seconds.

Yes theif AA’s do more damage than ours. Yes this is true, but thief can’t 100-0 someone on a burst anymore. Also our overall sustain trumps thief sustain in fights. We have many more ways to mitigate damage and win fights, where as; the thief is well known for having zero sustain.

Everyone needs to take a step back and look at the entire picture w/out class bias.

lol thief burst isn’t merely steal. Vault hits for more thand mindwrack ever will. Backstab happens every black powder which is less than MW cd.

And lol at our sustained DPS being higher. Mesmer sustained DPS is one of the lowest in the game.

I’m not sure why you brought up healing when thief can pretty much evade all damage and blink out to wait out for the evades to be back.

Zenith.7301:

Azukas.1426:

Zenith.7301:

Azukas.1426:

Levetty.1279:

Azukas.1426:

Stun break on dodge is bad for the game. Especially on the best 100-0 class in the game.

Thief has a stun break on dodge?

Mesmer Burst > Thief Burst

Mesmer burst also has significantly longer cd and mesmer has no sustained damage whatsoever in case a burst fails or is partially blocked, which allows targets to fully recover where a thief would just finish off with autos.

Mind wrack is on a significantly less CD than steal. Let’s be honest here. Also Basi Venom is a CD of 45 seconds.

Yes theif AA’s do more damage than ours. Yes this is true, but thief can’t 100-0 someone on a burst anymore. Also our overall sustain trumps thief sustain in fights. We have many more ways to mitigate damage and win fights, where as; the thief is well known for having zero sustain.

Everyone needs to take a step back and look at the entire picture w/out class bias.

lol thief burst isn’t merely steal. Vault hits for more thand mindwrack ever will. Backstab happens every black powder which is less than MW cd.

And lol at our sustained DPS being higher. Mesmer sustained DPS is one of the lowest in the game.

I’m not sure why you brought up healing when thief can pretty much evade all damage and blink out to wait out for the evades to be back.

haha good one. But what do i expect ofc mesner mains will treat their class like its a piece of kitten.

Zenith.7301:

Azukas.1426:

Zenith.7301:

Azukas.1426:

Levetty.1279:

Azukas.1426:

Stun break on dodge is bad for the game. Especially on the best 100-0 class in the game.

Thief has a stun break on dodge?

Mesmer Burst > Thief Burst

Mesmer burst also has significantly longer cd and mesmer has no sustained damage whatsoever in case a burst fails or is partially blocked, which allows targets to fully recover where a thief would just finish off with autos.

Mind wrack is on a significantly less CD than steal. Let’s be honest here. Also Basi Venom is a CD of 45 seconds.

Yes theif AA’s do more damage than ours. Yes this is true, but thief can’t 100-0 someone on a burst anymore. Also our overall sustain trumps thief sustain in fights. We have many more ways to mitigate damage and win fights, where as; the thief is well known for having zero sustain.

Everyone needs to take a step back and look at the entire picture w/out class bias.

lol thief burst isn’t merely steal. Vault hits for more thand mindwrack ever will. Backstab happens every black powder which is less than MW cd.

And lol at our sustained DPS being higher. Mesmer sustained DPS is one of the lowest in the game.

I’m not sure why you brought up healing when thief can pretty much evade all damage and blink out to wait out for the evades to be back.

I didn’t bring up healing (i hope you aren’t thinking that basi venom is the thief’s heal)……I said fight sustain who cares about DPS sustain in PvP? It means nothing in a pvp match.

How do you manage to get backstabbed every Black Powder? You do know for a thief to reliably close the gap they need to shadowstep via steal, utility, or Shadow Shot. If they shadow shot you need to dodge or use a defensive skill as soon as the blind lands. There is a lag of time between you getting hit by Backstab & the blind that gives you ample time to avoid it.

You do know this right?

Azukas.1426:

Zenith.7301:

Azukas.1426:

Zenith.7301:

Azukas.1426:

Levetty.1279:

Azukas.1426:

Stun break on dodge is bad for the game. Especially on the best 100-0 class in the game.

Thief has a stun break on dodge?

Mesmer Burst > Thief Burst

Mesmer burst also has significantly longer cd and mesmer has no sustained damage whatsoever in case a burst fails or is partially blocked, which allows targets to fully recover where a thief would just finish off with autos.

Mind wrack is on a significantly less CD than steal. Let’s be honest here. Also Basi Venom is a CD of 45 seconds.

Yes theif AA’s do more damage than ours. Yes this is true, but thief can’t 100-0 someone on a burst anymore. Also our overall sustain trumps thief sustain in fights. We have many more ways to mitigate damage and win fights, where as; the thief is well known for having zero sustain.

Everyone needs to take a step back and look at the entire picture w/out class bias.

lol thief burst isn’t merely steal. Vault hits for more thand mindwrack ever will. Backstab happens every black powder which is less than MW cd.

And lol at our sustained DPS being higher. Mesmer sustained DPS is one of the lowest in the game.

I’m not sure why you brought up healing when thief can pretty much evade all damage and blink out to wait out for the evades to be back.

I didn’t bring up healing (i hope you aren’t thinking that basi venom is the thief’s heal)……I said fight sustain who cares about DPS sustain in PvP? It means nothing in a pvp match.

How do you manage to get backstabbed every Black Powder? You do know for a thief to reliably close the gap they need to shadowstep via steal, utility, or Shadow Shot. If they shadow shot you need to dodge or use a defensive skill as soon as the blind lands. There is a lag of time between you getting hit by Backstab & the blind that gives you ample time to avoid it.

You do know this right?

Good thing their cooldowns on those are a fraction of the cooldowns on your defensive skills.

All you need is to land one backstab combo to take off half or more of someone’s health.

Assuming of course you keep ignoring staff builds who don’t even need to land vault because staff auto does more DPS than 100 blades.

Zenith.7301:

Azukas.1426:

Zenith.7301:

Azukas.1426:

Zenith.7301:

Azukas.1426:

Levetty.1279:

Azukas.1426:

Stun break on dodge is bad for the game. Especially on the best 100-0 class in the game.

Thief has a stun break on dodge?

Mesmer Burst > Thief Burst

Mesmer burst also has significantly longer cd and mesmer has no sustained damage whatsoever in case a burst fails or is partially blocked, which allows targets to fully recover where a thief would just finish off with autos.

Mind wrack is on a significantly less CD than steal. Let’s be honest here. Also Basi Venom is a CD of 45 seconds.

Yes theif AA’s do more damage than ours. Yes this is true, but thief can’t 100-0 someone on a burst anymore. Also our overall sustain trumps thief sustain in fights. We have many more ways to mitigate damage and win fights, where as; the thief is well known for having zero sustain.

Everyone needs to take a step back and look at the entire picture w/out class bias.

lol thief burst isn’t merely steal. Vault hits for more thand mindwrack ever will. Backstab happens every black powder which is less than MW cd.

And lol at our sustained DPS being higher. Mesmer sustained DPS is one of the lowest in the game.

I’m not sure why you brought up healing when thief can pretty much evade all damage and blink out to wait out for the evades to be back.

I didn’t bring up healing (i hope you aren’t thinking that basi venom is the thief’s heal)……I said fight sustain who cares about DPS sustain in PvP? It means nothing in a pvp match.

How do you manage to get backstabbed every Black Powder? You do know for a thief to reliably close the gap they need to shadowstep via steal, utility, or Shadow Shot. If they shadow shot you need to dodge or use a defensive skill as soon as the blind lands. There is a lag of time between you getting hit by Backstab & the blind that gives you ample time to avoid it.

You do know this right?

Good thing their cooldowns on those are a fraction of the cooldowns on your defensive skills.

All you need is to land one backstab combo to take off half or more of someone’s health.

Assuming of course you keep ignoring staff builds who don’t even need to land vault because staff auto does more DPS than 100 blades.

They can’t combo except once every 20 seconds and once every 45 due to Basi Venom. Your defensive CDs are blurred frenzy 12secs, phase retreat 10 secs, echo of memory 28 secs, tides of time 40 secs, and distortion 50 secs. Not even counting Alacrity or F5 on refreshing those defenses.

I’m not ignoring staff builds b/c if a thief goes into a game running staff its GG 4v5 for your team. He just gave up the best attribute for having a thief on ur team.

Azukas.1426:

Levetty.1279:

Azukas.1426:

Levetty.1279:

Azukas.1426:

Stun break on dodge is bad for the game. Especially on the best 100-0 class in the game.

Thief has a stun break on dodge?

Mesmer Burst > Thief Burst

I’m confused, first you say thief has a stun break on dodge, now you are saying it doesn’t.

You know you should be more into overall game balance.

It’s the best way tbh

Well thats why I am confused, I didn’t know thief had stun break on dodge but then you came in here and said it did. Why?

Levetty.1279:

Azukas.1426:

Levetty.1279:

Azukas.1426:

Levetty.1279:

Azukas.1426:

Stun break on dodge is bad for the game. Especially on the best 100-0 class in the game.

Thief has a stun break on dodge?

Mesmer Burst > Thief Burst

I’m confused, first you say thief has a stun break on dodge, now you are saying it doesn’t.

You know you should be more into overall game balance.

It’s the best way tbh

Well thats why I am confused, I didn’t know thief had stun break on dodge but then you came in here and said it did. Why?

Please stay on topic of the thread instead of trying to derail and bait people.

Thank You

Azukas.1426:

Levetty.1279:

Azukas.1426:

Levetty.1279:

Azukas.1426:

Levetty.1279:

Azukas.1426:

Stun break on dodge is bad for the game. Especially on the best 100-0 class in the game.

Thief has a stun break on dodge?

Mesmer Burst > Thief Burst

I’m confused, first you say thief has a stun break on dodge, now you are saying it doesn’t.

You know you should be more into overall game balance.

It’s the best way tbh

Well thats why I am confused, I didn’t know thief had stun break on dodge but then you came in here and said it did. Why?

Please stay on topic of the thread instead of trying to derail and bait people.

Thank You

You came in here and said thief had stun break, I’m just asking why. Stop trying to throw this in other peoples faces when you are the one who came in and went off topic, with false information.

Levetty.1279:

Azukas.1426:

Levetty.1279:

Azukas.1426:

Levetty.1279:

Azukas.1426:

Levetty.1279:

Azukas.1426:

Stun break on dodge is bad for the game. Especially on the best 100-0 class in the game.

Thief has a stun break on dodge?

Mesmer Burst > Thief Burst

I’m confused, first you say thief has a stun break on dodge, now you are saying it doesn’t.

You know you should be more into overall game balance.

It’s the best way tbh

Well thats why I am confused, I didn’t know thief had stun break on dodge but then you came in here and said it did. Why?

Please stay on topic of the thread instead of trying to derail and bait people.

Thank You

You came in here and said thief had stun break, I’m just asking why. Stop trying to throw this in other peoples faces when you are the one who came in and went off topic, with false information.

Never said that but it appears you believe thief has best 100-0 burst in the game.

Go play a thief

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/pvp/Mirage-Mirror-Redesign-More/first#post6722546

I also posted this on the pvp forums, but esssentially with a included video explaining a complete redesign with mirage mirror that I think works very well. Please go check it out.

Countless

Edit for updating the list, and I got rid of the name changes to skills as they might be too confusing.

As you have it, Crystal Sands seems extremely strong. It’s basically a 3 evade on demand refresh every 35s with added bonuses. I’d be more inclined to say 20s and 1 charge regardless of how many illusions you have. I also think having the ability to stack up 5s of continuous evades that you can attack through it a little over the top. Make it 2 charges.

With Elusive Mind I’d like to see it trigger on any application of cloak for consistency, but with a 1s ICD on cleanse and ~5-8s ICD on Stun Break.

Leap Ambush for both Sword and Greatsword seems a little dull…

The rest I’d lap up with a Fractal Spoon!

Elessaria.9142:

As you have it, Crystal Sands seems extremely strong. It’s basically a 3 evade on demand refresh every 35s with added bonuses. I’d be more inclined to say 20s and 1 charge regardless of how many illusions you have. I also think having the ability to stack up 5s of continuous evades that you can attack through it a little over the top. Make it 2 charges.

With Elusive Mind I’d like to see it trigger on any application of cloak for consistency, but with a 1s ICD on cleanse and ~5-8s ICD on Stun Break.

Leap Ambush for both Sword and Greatsword seems a little dull…

The rest I’d lap up with a Fractal Spoon!

I love it when someone says “for consistency” then proceeds to ask for hidden cool downs for people to count and keep track of. That isn’t consistency as the opponent and yourself can very easily lose track of what has and hasn’t proc’d. The way it is now is very consistent for the user as you know you will stun break and cleanse when you hit that dodge button.

Yes the leap is boring but it’s useful, I’d take boring and useful over original/unique and useless.

Elessaria.9142:

As you have it, Crystal Sands seems extremely strong. It’s basically a 3 evade on demand refresh every 35s with added bonuses. I’d be more inclined to say 20s and 1 charge regardless of how many illusions you have. I also think having the ability to stack up 5s of continuous evades that you can attack through it a little over the top. Make it 2 charges.

With Elusive Mind I’d like to see it trigger on any application of cloak for consistency, but with a 1s ICD on cleanse and ~5-8s ICD on Stun Break.

Leap Ambush for both Sword and Greatsword seems a little dull…

The rest I’d lap up with a Fractal Spoon!

It is strong for what it gives, but you have to give up 1 to 3 illusions to get back that many charges. Not to mention you’re giving up a utility slot for it. I’d say that’s worth it.